Windows
by journeytothecenter
Summary: Alternate Universe fic - Meet Emily, a girl who isn't sure what to expect with the new life she's about to embark on
1. Chapter 1 : Lucky Ducks

**AN** - _Why hello, there. Welcome to my first Fanfic in about 7 years. I originally started this story in middle school (the original version still exists), but now that I'm in college, I'm working to make this story a lot better than it used to be. Please excuse the first few chapters as they'll serve as the basic background to my character, but as the story progresses, it'll lead to everything else I have in mind. Feel free to leave reviews, I certainly appreciate them. If you'd like to read the original story - please search for the title Window to the Past. _

Lucky Ducks orphanage was known to the locals as a way of keeping abandoned children off the street; to the children who resided in the grungy old building, it was possibly one of the most unluckiest places they could be. Lucky Ducks wasn't just any type of orphanage, it was an orphanage for "tough" cases, the children that were deemed unsuitable for society in one way or another. While a difficult place to be, the young men of Lucky Ducks were extremely lucky in terms of treatment. The young ladies, well, that was a different story.

Emily was always getting the worst of everything at Lucky Ducks – old uniforms, meant to make the children appear presentable, leftover food, and the more difficult and unwanted chores. It was often in Emily's favor to try and act as though she was never there, favoring books over the company of others.

Much to Emily's disgust, the particular rainy day the orphanage was having was the day the boys decided it would be appropriate to pick on her.

"'Ey, guys! Look! Emily's reading that stupid book again!" said a particularly ugly boy. "How many times 'ave you read that book, there?"

Emily lifted her hazel eyes from the book she was reading from her corner of the play room. "I've read it more times than the amount of words you know," she said sharply, immediately returning to her book. _With any luck,_ she thought,_ they'll leave me alone if I act like I don't care._

"What was that you said?" asked another boy, approaching Emily slowly, his fists slowly balling up.

"Nothing, Scott. It's not like you wouldn't understand anyway. Brian can fend for himself, y'know," Emily stated calmly, bracing herself for the swing that usually came.

The boy named Scott started moving a bit faster in Emily's direction, his arm swinging back –

"Guess what, children?"

Emily flinched, not from the blow that never came, but rather from the shrilly voice that came from the doorway to her left. Mrs. Happerty, the fierce and gaudy manager of the orphanage wore an extremely pleased grin. Scott turned his head in her direction, his fist still poised to strike and a curious expression upon his face.

"You all get to go on a field trip to the aquarium today! Now get on the bus and get out of my sight." Happerty nearly jumped for joy at her announcement.

Scott looked at Emily and sneered, lowering his fist. He moved back towards Brian who was slower than a slug and gave him a shove towards the doors out of the orphanage. Neither boy refused to take their eyes off of the small girl, not wanting to be hit with a cheap shot.

With a sigh Emily shut the cover of her book and stood up. "Well, here goes nothing."


	2. Chapter 2 : The Aquarium

_Just keep moving, just keep moving…,_ Emily thought to herself, rushing to find a safe spot away from Scott and Brian, for fear they would follow her and torture her even more than they had on the bus ride. While not the most optimal place to linger, Emily found herself in the shark tunnel, surrounded by gallons of water and toothy specimen. While a popular attraction, the shark room was surprisingly empty, leaving herself to be alone. Resigned, Emily found an empty bench and sat down to read her book again.

"Odd creatures, aren't these?" asked a voice.

Emily looked up from her book and up to the man who hadn't been near her moments before. "I'm sorry-?"

"The sharks," said the man, smiling to himself. "They spend their days swimming aimlessly, searching for their next meal, but unfortunately due to their circumstances, never truly get the satisfaction of the hunt."

Nodding slowly, Emily closed her book and turned herself to look back at the sharks swimmingly lazily around her. "I guess you're right," she said. "I'm sorry, but –"

"Remus," said the man, looking back at Emily. "My name is Remus Lupin. Might I ask what yours is?"

Without a moment's hesitation, Emily answered, "Well, I don't think I should be telling a stranger my name, but it's Emily. Nice to meet you, Mr. Lupin."

The man, Remus Lupin, chuckled, tossing his brown and gray hair back slightly, "Please, call me Remus. Mr. Lupin makes me feel a lot older than I am."

At the mention of his age, Emily took a look at who she was speaking to. His hair was graying and he appeared extremely tired. His forehead had slight wrinkles, as though he was constantly concentrating very hard on something and his cheeks bore scars.

"I don't mean to be rude, but might I ask how old you really are?" Emily asked, slightly embarrassed by the fact she was even asking.

"Not rude at all," Remus said smiling at her, "I'm 31, believe it or not."

"But you look so –"

"Old? Yes, I know," Remus sighed. "I've just been through a lot and it's taking it's toll on my body. Nothing to be alarmed about," he added spotting the alarm on Emily's face.

"Would it be alright if I joined you?"

Emily shook her head and moved on the bench to make room for Lupin.

"What is that book about?"

"Oh!" Emily said, "This? Well, it's about pirates and their battles at sea. It's not one of the best, but I enjoy it and it's really all there is at the orphanage…"

"Orphanage?"

"Yeah, I stay at Lucky Ducks orphanage," Emily said, sadly.

Remus nodded slowly, thinking for a moment. He looked at Emily and gave her a kind smile. He reached into his pocket, pulled out his wallet, and then took a look at it for a moment before opening it. Pulling out a five pound note, he held it out towards Emily, "I know it's not much, but perhaps you would be able to buy yourself something."

Surprised, Emily looked up at Remus, "No, I couldn't take it. Besides, I would only be given more trouble by everyone else if they saw me leaving with something."

"What do you mean?"

"Well," Emily started, biting her lip to keep herself from crying, "the other children aren't exactly the nicest to me. They make fun of me and tell me I'm weird, all because I'm different then them."

"How are you different than the other children? If I'm not mistaken, you all have something in common," Remus said, putting his wallet away and putting the note on the bench in the space between them.

"Weird things happen when I get upset. If I were to get mad, I don't even know what would happen right now."

Emily looked at the floor sadly and sighed, "I'm surprised nothing has happened yet today. It normally does and then I never hear the end of it. I don't like the others making fun of me."

Remus made a move as though he was going to hug Emily, but stopped himself. He picked up the money that he had laid down and held it out towards Emily. "What if I were to tell you what happens is normal for someone like you? Please, take the money and buy yourself something. Everything will be explained in time."

Reluctantly, Emily took Remus' money. "Thank-you," she said, folding the 5 pound note in half in order to hold it better in her small hands. "Would you be willing to join me?"

"Certainly."


	3. Chapter 3 : New Beginnings

A few weeks had passed since the orphanage's trip to the aquarium and Emily was lingering on very curious words. "Everything will be explained," she muttered to the small otter plush she had next to her on her bed. "Nothing has been explained. Ever."

Emily belly-flopped onto her bed, grabbing the small otter and pulling it close. "If only that man had made sense." She pressed the nose of the otter to hers and stared into its eyes.

_It blinked,_ Emily thought, moving the otter away and staring at it with a look of confusion. "You can't blink," she said, turning it in her hands to view it from all directions when something else caught her eye – owls outside the window staring in. Emily put the otter down by her side and rubbed her eyes, returning her gaze to the window, which no longer had anything in it. _I'm losing it._

"You there."

Startled, Emily sat up and looked up to see Happerty standing in the doorway of the girl's dormitory. "Did I do something?" Emily asked, unsure of what the fiery redheaded woman wanted.

"Pack your things, you're getting out of here."

"But no one has asked to see me-?"

Happerty wore a nasty look on her face at Emily's mention of no one asking to see her in the orphanage.

"This was arranged years ago. Just back your junk and get out of my sight. They're waiting for you out front." Happerty then walked out, slamming the door of the dormitory behind her.

Confused, Emily looked around. For Happerty to insist Emily gather her belongings were a joke. When Emily arrived at the orphanage at four, she came with nothing, but the clothes on her back. Still, she made a show of gathering up items into the backpack that she had; mostly books and her otter went into the bag. With a sigh, Emily put the backpack over her shoulders, holding onto the straps as though they were an extremely heavy burden. She gave the room one quick look, smiled to herself, and walked out to the main hall.

Once out in the main hall, she was surprised to see the man she had met at the aquarium.

"What are you doing here?" Emily asked, her eyes slightly wide.

"Why, picking you up," Remus said with a smile.

Emily's eyes narrowed, "But you've never come to see me before. It takes years to get adopted."

Remus Lapin's smile only grew broader. "Well, it has been years. Since you've been admitted here, in fact."

This piece of information caused Emily to be even more confused than she had just become. "What do you mean by that?"

"Never you mind," Remus said, his smile only growing by the second, "it's time you get to your new home. Here, give me your bag."

Slowly and without taking her eyes off of Remus, Emily took her backpack off and handed it to him. She couldn't understand how a man she had just met several weeks ago also happened to be the person who would be bringing her to an actual home.

Remus slung Emily's backpack over one shoulder. "Do you need to see anyone before you leave?"

Emily shook her head and only crossed her arms over her chest.

"Well, then, let's go," Remus, said, putting a hand on Emily's shoulder and steering her to the door. Once at the door, Remus opened it and motioned for Emily to proceed.

For a moment, Emily paused and only looked at Remus, curious as to why she had not known any paper work had been filed on her behalf. With an air of uncertainty, Emily proceeded outside the door and into the world and to her new life.

"You're not eating."

Emily looked up from the plate of pasta in front of her to see Remus looking at her with a concerned look. She took a look at her surroundings again and returned her gaze to her food.

"Are you alright?" Remus asked, setting his fork down and folding his hands in front of him.

"I'm fine," Emily said, shifting nervously in her chair, which felt as though it was on the verge of breaking underneath her.

Remus partly understood what was bothering Emily; his home wasn't exactly the most lavish building in the area. The rooms were fairly bare and the furniture that he did own wasn't in the best shape. For example, the couch had several ripped patches and the kitchen set was made of knotted wood and had large chunks taken out of it in places as though a large animal had ripped its claws into the wood. He took a look around the room himself and sighed.

"I'm sorry if this wasn't what you were expecting when you left that place," Remus said softly.

"No, it's not that," Emily said, "I'm just confused as to how I managed to get here. No one had said that I could be leaving that place." Her stomach growled and she clamped her arms over it to try and muffle the noise.

Remus chuckled at Emily's embarrassment of her apparent hunger. "Please eat, I assure you that I'm not a horrible cook. I've had to cook for myself for years and no one I know has died from it yet. If you eat, I'll attempt to explain things later on."

"You told me I would find things out before!" Emily exclaimed looking at Remus with an extremely confused expression. "None of this makes sense and I still don't know any more than I did weeks ago. All I know is I met you at that aquarium and now I'm here with you in the same house as you've apparently adopted me. How could you have been able to have all of that paper work filled out and processed already? I'm not stupid, I've seen how it works many times as I've watched people come and go."

"Please eat and I assure you I'll explain everything."

Emily's stomach growled again. She finally picked up her fork and began to eat, shoveling the pasta into her mouth as fast as she could. Apparently she hadn't realized how hungry she really was and was truly enjoying the food that Remus had cooked.

Seeing that Emily was finally eating, Remus began to finish what he had left when he was interrupted by a tapping on the window. "Oh, the mail's here!"

Remus stood up and moved to the window, allowing in the owl that appeared to be carrying several letters.

"Why are you letting that owl in?" Emily asked, her confused expression appearing immediately once more. She placed her fork down again and looked at Remus who only looked back at her with an equally confused expression.

"He brought the mail," Remus said. He removed the letters attached to the owls leg and shut the window as it flew back out.

"That owl brought mail?"

The very thought of an owl bringing mail made Emily think she was dreaming. She had heard of carrier pigeons and had even learned of them in her history class, but had never heard of owls carrying mail.

"That's how we get mail in our world. Now, in order to keep up the illusion a perfectly normal person lives here I receive Muggle mail as well, but the more important letters come in by owl."

Emily's jaw dropped. "Muggle? What's a Muggle? What are you talking about? You have to be joking, right?"

"I was afraid this was going to happen," Remus said sighing. He sorted through the small stack of letters and pulled one out. He set the rest of the stack on his counter and brought the one single envelope back with him to the table. "This won't answer nearly everything, but it's just a start."

Remus handed Emily the envelope in his hand. She took it cautiously, reading the address. To her surprise, the letter was in fact addressed to her, with her new surname and with an oddly specific location (the kitchen table). Turning the envelope around, Emily ran her fingers over the candle wax seal and popped it up from the heavy paper. She pulled the contents of the letter out and began to read. Shortly after she finished reading, she fainted.


	4. Chapter 4 : Diagon Alley

Life within the Lupin household seemed to be a dream. Every morning an owl would deliver a newspaper and expect to be paid with a little bronze coin called a knut and later on throughout the day, owls would arrive with mail. Items in the house seemed to have a mind of their own. After meals, the kitchen sink would turn itself on and begin to bubble, creating the perfect concoction for the plates to be scrubbed clean. With a swish of Remus' wand, the house would begin to clean itself – the only bed in the house would make itself tidy and crisp and the broom would sweep the floors as though an imaginary person held on to it.

While the magic kept Emily amused, she couldn't help but feel terrible for the man who had taken her in. The first day she had arrived, Remus had insisted that she take the bedroom and that he would be perfectly fine with sleeping on the couch. She wondered how he managed to sleep on the couch, but was often times kept too busy during the day to muster the strength to climb out of bed and see.

Emily's days were spent reading or running errands with Remus and sometimes picking up new pieces of clothing for herself from second-hand shops. What she was looking forward to most was the trip to Diagon Alley, which consisted of magic shops. She discussed this matter with Remus' parents who had stopped by several days before to meet her.

"Oh, she is absolutely beautiful!" Remus' mother had exclaimed, tears rolling down her face as she pulled Emily into a tight hug.

Awkwardly, Emily had given the woman a pat on the back, looking at Remus over the woman's shoulder with a slightly perplexed look.

He had put his hands in his pants pockets and shrugged, amused at what was occurring in front of him and extremely grateful for the packages he saw his father carried, as he knew they would contain clothes for Emily.

Emily didn't think it would ever be possible for her to truly forget that moment. While she finally felt as though she had a family, Emily still didn't receive an answer on the peculiar circumstances that she was suddenly adopted. Finding she was enjoying her new life, she pushed the thought to the back of her mind, not wanting to truly worry about it until later on.

The days continued to pass and it was finally time to visit Diagon Alley. Remus and Emily climbed into the beat up car that he owned and it trundled along to London, where they would be spending the night.

"If you're a wizard and brooms can fly, why don't we just take that to London?" Emily asked on their ride, looking from the road, to the rolling hills outside her window, and back to Remus.

Remus could only laugh heartily at her question, "Well my dear, it would be awfully strange if a Muggle were to see us flying through the sky, wouldn't it? It's easier to act as normal to them as possible."

The answer Remus has given her was suitable as she sat back in her seat and relaxed, watching the world go by on their two-hour trip to the city. Emily had been to London before, but only with the orphanage and they were never on the streets for longer than a few minutes before they were ushered into a building. She was excited at the prospect that she would finally get to look around and enjoy her time out.

Three hours had nearly passed by the time they had reached a place to park and had set out to where they needed to go.

"This is just one entrance to Diagon Alley," Remus said a short while later as the two approached what appeared to be a grungy bar. People in all directions walked by without even glancing at where they were passing by. On either side of the bar were a bookstore and a record store.

Emily looked up to read the sign above the door – "The Leaky Cauldron." She looked at Remus curiously, not sure of what to do or where exactly it was they were supposed to be going.

Remus smiled at her and proceeded to enter the pub, motioning for Emily to follow.

Entering the pub was like entering an almost completely new world. Throughout the pub were people wearing different sorts of funny clothing, both bright and extremely dark. Very few people turned to look at them as they walked in and only returned to what they were doing. Remus continued on to a door located across the way and proceeded on and out back to the outdoors. Once back outside, the two stood outside of a brick wall.

"You've taken us the wrong way!" Emily said, motioning to the wall and looking at Remus slightly aggravated.

"My, you are impatient today," Remus said, walking up to the wall and touching a brick with his wand. At once, the wall began to move, the bricks folding to create an entrance way into what Emily thought was the most beautiful place in the world.

In front of Emily was the beginning of new opportunities. She looked at Remus with a huge smile on her face and took his hand, pulling him along to join her on her first new adventure into the world of magic.

"Well, it looks like we've got all of your supplies," Remus said, leaning back in his chair. Emily nodded and looked at the packages sitting on the floor beside her. The two had stopped back into the Leaky Cauldron to eat before heading up to their room for the night. She stared at the rectangular box on top of everything she had gotten during the day; courtesy of the money Remus' parents had given her.

"What type of wand chose you?"

"It's 11 and a quarter inches, hazel, with a phoenix feather core," Emily said, "The man said my mother's wand was similar."

Remus nodded slowly. "Yes, your mothers wand was indeed similar, not quite the same type of wood, but the rest is the same."

"How do you know my mother's wand was like mine?" Emily asked, questions flooding her thoughts.

"Your mother and I, we were very, very close," Remus said. "Now go on up to bed. You needn't worry about things right now and you'll soon have a very busy week. I'll have them send your items up to the room, so just head on up. I'll be there shortly, I just have to go somewhere."

Emily stood up resigned, and made her way up the stairs to their room. She had learned early on that some questions were never answered with Remus. When she walked into the room, she was only somewhat surprised to see that all of her packages were indeed in the room. Emily yawned and climbed into the bed closest to the window and fell fast asleep.

The next morning, Emily woke up to a light hooting. Upon the nightstand was a cage with an owl with a long face and light brown and tan feathers. Beside it was a letter, which she picked up and read.

_I had to go and run a few errands, but this owl is yours. You can't expect to go through your first year at Hogwarts without speaking to me, can you?_

_ -Remus_

Emily smiled broadly at the owl that only made another soft hoot. Things were looking far better than Emily could have ever imagined. She couldn't wait for the moment she set foot in Hogwarts any longer.


End file.
